Anonymous personalized recommendation method

1. A computer-implemented method for anonymously recommending public entities, the method comprising:

receiving, at a client of a user from a server, a predetermined number of select server fingerprints selected from server fingerprints based on predetermined metrics, the server fingerprints corresponding to a plurality of public entities, wherein

the select server fingerprints are received in response to the user opening an application or accessing a particular web page and the predetermined metrics comprise at least one of: popularity of a corresponding public entity, a category of public entities requested by the user, a geographic location associated with the user, and a language requested by the user,

each server fingerprint comprising encoded information about a corresponding public entity, wherein the encoded information comprises information for identifying the corresponding public entity and information for determining whether to recommend the public entity to a user, and

wherein the encoded information is encoded to compress a size of the each server finger print;

generating, at the client, a user fingerprint based on user information associated with a user, the user fingerprint comprising encoded user information, wherein the user information comprises information representative of the user's interests and wherein the user fingerprint is not transmitted outside the client;

comparing, at the client, the user fingerprint with the select server fingerprints to select at least one server fingerprint for recommendation;

generating, at the client, at least one recommendation of a public entity corresponding to the at least one server fingerprint for recommendation; and

displaying the at least one recommendation.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving a search result based on an information search request made by the user and modifying the search result based on the generated recommendation.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing the received select server fingerprints in a data store.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

updating the user fingerprint based on user feedback;

comparing the updated user fingerprint with the stored select server fingerprints to select an updated server fingerprint for recommendation; and

generating an updated recommendation of a public entity corresponding to the updated server fingerprint for recommendation.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of public entities comprise at least one of a web site, an article, a blog, and a user on a social networking site.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the encoded information about the corresponding public entity comprises relevancy values corresponding to a plurality of keywords, each of the relevancy values representing relevancy of the corresponding public entity to each keyword.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user information comprises at least one of a search history of the user, web page access history of the user, and web page bookmarks of the user.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the encoded user information comprises relevancy values corresponding to a plurality of keywords, each of the relevancy values representing relevancy of the user information to each keyword.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising communicating a request for the select server fingerprints to a server by conforming to a network protocol;

wherein the select server fingerprints are received in response to the request for the select server fingerprints.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein in the step of selecting the server fingerprints to communicate to the client, the server fingerprints are selected based on information generated as part of the network protocol.

11. A system for anonymously recommending public entities, the system comprising:

a memory storing executable instructions; and

a processor coupled to the memory configured to execute the stored executable instructions to:

receive at a client of a user, a predetermined number of select server fingerprints, wherein the select server fingerprints are selected from server fingerprints based on predetermined metrics, and wherein the server fingerprints correspond to a plurality of public entities, wherein,

the select server fingerprints are received in response to the user opening an application or accessing a particular web page and the predetermined metrics comprise at least one of: popularity of a corresponding public entity, a category of public entities requested by the user, a geographic location associated with the user, and a language requested by the user,

each server fingerprint comprising encoded information about a corresponding public entity, wherein the encoded information comprises information for identifying the corresponding public entity and information for determining whether to recommend the public entity to a user, and

wherein the encoded information is encoded to compress a size of the each server finger print;

generate, at the client, a user fingerprint based on user information associated with a user, the user fingerprint comprising encoded user information, wherein the user information comprises information representative of the user's interests and wherein the user fingerprint is not transmitted outside the client;

compare, at the client, the user fingerprint with the select server fingerprints to select at least one server fingerprint for recommendation;

generate, at the client, at least one recommendation of a public entity corresponding to the at least one server fingerprint for recommendation;

receive, at the client, a search result based on an information search request made by the user;

modify, at the client, the search result based on the generated recommendation; and

display the modified search result.

12. The system of claim 11 , further comprising a data store, wherein the processor is further configured to:

store the select server fingerprints in the data store;

update the user fingerprint based on user feedback;

compare the updated user fingerprint with the stored select server fingerprints to select an updated server fingerprint for recommendation; and

generate an updated recommendation of a public entity corresponding to the updated server fingerprint for recommendation.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the plurality of public entities comprise at least one of a web site, an article, a blog, and a user on a social networking site.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the encoded information about the corresponding public entity comprises relevancy values corresponding to a plurality of keywords, each of the relevancy values representing relevancy of the corresponding public entity to each keyword.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the user information comprises at least one of a search history of the user, web page access history of the user, and web page bookmarks of the user.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the encoded user information comprises relevancy values corresponding to a plurality of keywords, each of the relevancy values representing relevancy of the user information to each keyword.

17. A machine-readable storage medium comprising machine-readable instructions for causing a processor to execute a method for anonymously recommending public entities, the method comprising:

receiving, at a client of a user from a server, a predetermined number of select server fingerprints selected from server fingerprints based on predetermined metrics, the server fingerprints corresponding to a plurality of public entities, wherein

the select server fingerprints are received in response to the user opening an application or accessing a particular web page and the predetermined metrics comprise at least one of: popularity of a corresponding public entity, a category of public entities requested by the user, a geographic location associated with the user, and a language requested by the user,

each server fingerprint comprising encoded information about a corresponding public entity, wherein the encoded information comprises information for identifying the corresponding public entity and information for determining whether to recommend the public entity to a user, and

wherein the encoded information is encoded to compress a size of the each server finger print;

generating, at the client, a user fingerprint based on user information associated with a user, the user fingerprint comprising encoded user information, wherein the user information comprises information representative of the user's interests and wherein the user fingerprint is not transmitted outside the client;

comparing, at the client, the user fingerprint with the select server fingerprints to select at least one server fingerprint for recommendation;

generating, at the client, at least one recommendation of a public entity corresponding to the at least one server fingerprint for recommendation; and

displaying the at least one recommendation.